Cosley

Last week started like summer, but by Thursday had dropped into fall weather as steeply as the drop off from the edge of a continental shelf. Last Friday and Saturday were distinctly chilly and completely cloudy. On Sunday, things warmed up a bit.

So we went to the Cosley Zoo. I took Ann there late in the spring this year, when Lilly was still in school, and noticed that she actually seemed interested in the animals, or at least the big ones that moved. Cosley is a unit of the Wheaton Park District, and a relative unknown compared with the enormous suburban Brookfield Zoo and the famed Lincoln Park Zoo in the city.

It’s a fine little vest-pocket zoo. It has the advantage of being free, and it doesn’t wear down the feet, since you can see everything in under an hour. The large duck pond fascinates one’s own small fry, and the rest of the animals—mostly of the barnyard sort, or birds, have their charms. And there’s an old caboose, just there, for no special zoological reason.